ISO 



DEER AND DEER PARKS. 



Ch. VII. 



Althorp, the well-known seat of the 

 Spencers, was imparked by license, fourth 

 Henry VIII. (1512), by Sir John Spencer, 

 then John Spencer, Esq., ' 300 acres of 

 land, 100 acres of wood, and 40 acres of 

 water, in Old Thorpe,' with free warren 

 there, and in Great Brington.' The park 

 in the whole extent contains 543 acres, 

 and there were at one time 800 head of 

 ■fallow-deer kept in it. The herd at pre- 

 sent is reduced to about 140, and the park 

 to 124 acres. Upon the death of the 

 grandfather of the present Lord Spencer, 

 his uncle, better known as Lord Al thorp, 

 gave the entire herd to King William IV. 

 They were all caught, the bucks' horns 

 being sawn off, and removed in vans to 

 the Royal parks. The park was restocked 

 from Dingley Park in this county by the 

 late lord. In this park is a hunting or 

 hawking-stand, erected by the first Lord 

 Spencer in 1613, on the occasion of the 

 visit of King James I. The interior was 

 formerly ornamented with curious paint- 

 ings representing hunting scenes, which 

 are now destroyed. Althorp was visited 

 by John Evelyn in 1675 and 1688. He 

 describes it as ' very finely watered, and 

 flanqued with stately woods and groves,' 

 and ' the park walled in with hewn stone, 

 planted with rows and walles of trees, 

 canals, and fish-ponds, and stored with 

 game.' The park of Althorp was con- 

 siderably enlarged by Charles Earl of 

 Sunderland, its then possessor, between 

 the years 1729 and 1733. 



The Royal Park of Holdenby was li- 

 censed to be imparked in 1578, Sir Chris- 

 topher Hatton being the owner at that 



' Baker's History of Northamptonshire, vol. 

 i. p. no. 

 " lb. p. 200. 

 ' Original papers /«««• the Baroness North, 



time — ' 300 acres of land, 200 acres of 

 meadow, and 70 acres of pastures in 

 Holdenby, Church-Brampton, and Chapel- 

 Brampton.' ^ It appears to have been ' im- 

 paled' about the year 1608, log/. io:r. dd. 

 being allowed in the ' extraordinary ' ac- 

 counts of King James I. at that period.' 

 ' A parke of fallowe-deare ' is mentioned 

 in Norden's Survey of Northamptonshire,* 

 and there were upwards of 200 deer of 

 different kinds at the destruction and sale 

 of this Royal palace in 1650, besides a 

 herd of wild cattle valued at 42/.^ 



South-west of Althorp, and near Da- 

 ventry, is Norton, a modem park of about 

 246 acres and a herd of 100 fallow-deer, 

 enclosed about the year 1845. 



Faivsley, the ancient seat of the Knight- 

 ley family, lies about four miles south of 

 Daventry. Here is an existing, ancient, 

 and very beautiful park, extending with 

 Badby Wood to nearly 700 acres. The 

 part open to deer is about 300 ; the herd 

 of fallow-deer numbers 326. The new 

 park, now incorporated with the old one, 

 was enclosed in the reign of EHzabeth.^ 



Near Fawsley is Litchborough, where 

 there is a small existing park belonging 

 to Mr. Grant. 



A small walled park existed at Catesby, 

 on the borders of Warwickshire, which is 

 m.arked in Morton's map of the county in 

 1712. 



At Canons-Ashby, still further south, 

 there is an existing park of 37 acres, with a 

 herd of about 100 spotted fallow-deer. It 

 is not known when the park was enclosed, 

 but the beginning of the sixteenth cen- 

 tury has been supposed to be the date ; it 



1566. 

 ■* Antiquarian Rep. vol. ii. p. 48. 

 ' Baker's Northamptonshire, vol. i. p. 197. 

 « lb. p. 384. 



